Can You Spot a Fake Smile ?

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Today I've found a test that is designed to test whether you can spot the difference between a fake smile and a real one.You have 20 faces ( video ) to see if you can make the difference between a real smile and a fake one.This test is based on research by Professor Paul Ekman, a psychologist at the University of California.

Most people are surprisingly bad at spotting fake smiles. One possible explanation for this is that it may be easier for people to get along if they don't always know what others are really feeling.

Although fake smiles often look very similar to genuine smiles, they are actually slightly different, because they are brought about by different muscles, which are controlled by different parts of the brain.

Fake smiles can be performed at will, because the brain signals that create them come from the conscious part of the brain and prompt the zygomaticus major muscles in the cheeks to contract. These are the muscles that pull the corners of the mouth outwards.

At the end of this test I've got this message : "You got 13 out of 20 correct" - So I'm GOOD.